Watch the World Burn
by Thee Sun
Summary: It was supposed to be a routine fight between a hero and his villain. They would have some witty banter; some awkward flirting and then they'd do it again the next week. Jason "Thunderbird" Grace, had never considered Kid Arson a threat. There lies his problem. Never under estimate an adversary. Super Hero AU, Leo/Jason, Leason, Slash


**Watch the World Burn **

**Pairing: Leason **

**Summary: It was supposed to be a routine fight between hero and his villain. They would have some witty banter; some awkward flirting and then they'd do it again the next week. Jason "Thunderbird" Grace, had never considered Kid Arson a threat. There lies his problem. Never under estimate an adversary.**

**A.N: This story was born from both my own fascination with a darker version of Leo Valdez, and a post on tumblr that said something along the lines of, "Imagine your otp as a hero and villain. There would be flirting, banter, fighting, and they would always be trying to convert the other to their side." I kind of took both of those ideas and just ran with them. **

"**Some men just want to watch the world burn," **_**The Dark Knight.**_

* * *

It was supposed to be a routine job. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing special, it was supposed to be just another typical fight between archnemeses. It wasn't supposed to end this way.

* * *

It was supposed to happen like any other fight. Kid Arson was just robbing another museum. Thunderbird was just going to burst in, fight him a while and prevent him from doing any real damage. Jason Grace, who went by the super hero alias Thunderbird, would try to convert the teenaged villain to the side of truth and justice. Kid Arson would refuse, usually accompanied by a fireball or some sort of gadget from his tool belt. They would have some witty banter; some awkward flirting and then they'd do it again the next week. That was their thing. They had been doing it for three years now and it wasn't supposed to change. Things being spontaneous, different, they didn't flow with Jason's hero's sense of justice and duty attitude. Things weren't supposed to change. Kid Arson wasn't supposed to be an actual problem. But the fact of the matter is that sometimes things change and sometimes the villain wins.

* * *

The day started normally enough. Jason was on his guard all day at school and then on his walk home, he heard the sound of an alarm above him. The indicator that Kid Arson's heist of the week was taking place in the building right above him. He slipped behind a potted plant and slipped off his hoodie and sweat pants, to reveal his spandex underneath. He slipped his mask on and flew to the floor where the crime was taking place. He burst in through the window and saw the small, spandex clad body of his nemesis trying to grasp a large gem on display.

"Looks like someone's taking something that doesn't belong to them," Jason said in his best hero voice. Kid Arson summoned flames to his right palm and grinned at him.

"That's kind of what thieves do, steal stuff" he said, flinging the ball of flames towards the hero. Thunderbird blew the flames away from himself with his wind powers.

Kid Arson glared at him, "Now how is that even fair? You got all the powers."

Jason took a few steps toward his masked enemy and started his normal spiel, "you know; we don't have to be enemies."

"I've heard the spiel before," the boy said, fiddling with his tool belt.

"The offer still stands," Thunderbird replied, sincerity in his tone, "and it always will."

"You, you don't know what I've done," muttered to his adversary, "You don't know what I'm going to do."

Jason paused for a moment, considering how to go about answering that.

He settled on, "everyone's made mistakes. Every hero, every normal and good person has. You just got to move on and become a better person." Kid Arson stalked up towards him. Jason was nearly a head taller than him, and it felt odd. They normally weren't this close while fighting and Jason had never noticed the height difference.

"I killed my mom, you know," he said nonchalantly, "I was only eight. Got mad, lost control, I watched her burn, birdie." Jason swallowed. He didn't know how to respond, so he let the villain keep on talking. Let him have his monologue.

"Afterwards, I felt like a monster," he said, looking down at his hands, in disgust, "I felt like I didn't have a reason to live. I felt shitty because I was a shitty person. Then Gaea found me, showed me the ropes of villainy, and gave me a purpose. She showed me everything that I could be. I could be strong. I could be good at something. I could be worth something. It might not be redemption, but it was similar. I felt powerful, important, almost loved." Jason's face contorted with a mix of confusion and disgust. Gaea, the famous crime lord? Gaea who owned almost half of the Midwest? That same Gaea was recruiting super villains? Was she building an army?

"Then, I started committing crimes. I started small, petty thievery, candy, small toys, whatever I felt like taking," he said, shrugging at his hero, "but then I started working my way up larger crimes. Robbing banks, museums, arson, it wasn't kid stuff anymore. I didn't care that I was shitty person, cause I didn't feel shitty. I felt good. Crime felt good. Arson of course," he said, gesturing to the flame on his black jumpsuit, "was my favorite. It was fun to watch things burn. I had complete power over them. And I could watch them burn, as if, for that fleeting moment, my life and the whole world were my own to do with as I pleased." Jason's breath hitched. He'd never truly considered the Kid a threat before, but after hearing this, he was reconsidering that stance.

Kid Arson paused and paced for a moment, before continuing, "Then, Gaea found out about you, the new big shot hero in Olympus City. She wanted to take you down a peg. Got me adopted by a family here, and I was well on my way to becoming the big shot criminal here."

Jason couldn't stifle his chuckle, "that didn't work too well for you."

Kid Arson sent him a glare and said, "I know. Because you were a distraction."

"It was strange," he mused, "to begin with, you made me want to be good with your duty and morals and utter golden-boyness. It was sickening. I wasn't supposed to feel that way. I was a villain. But after a while, I stopped wanting to be you. I didn't want to be you. You're sweet as sugar and it didn't work for me. Being good hasn't been an option in longer than I can remember. As sickening as it was, I just wanted you."

"What," Jason voiced in confusion. He must have misheard. His archnemesis did not just say that he wanted him. That couldn't have happened. He ignored the fact that it had made him feel happy and hopeful and on a more embarrassing note, hard.

"Wanted to date you, wanted to fuck you," the boy said, a strange look on his face, "I wasn't really sure how I felt anymore. It was so different from hatred or resentment or self-loathing that I didn't quite know how to process it." Jason kept silent, and gazed into his nemesis' eyes, which were unobstructed by his mask. They were a chocolate brown, but at the moment they glinted with something Jason had never seen there before. A pure, burning passion or perhaps a primal desire; akin to the flames that he was prone to shooting.

"A few months ago, Gaea made the discovery of a lifetime," the boy said grinning, "and it's going to change everything."

Jason's breath hitched. What did that mean? He gathered his courage and asked, "What do you mean? What are you talking about?" The boy stepped forward, stood on his tiptoes and pushed his lips onto Jason's. Jason tried to fight his desire, that deep, dark, hidden desire, but he just couldn't. He gave into the feeling of villain's tantalizing lips against his own. Kid Arson broke the contact and touched his tool belt. Jason was too shocked to process what was happening, and ended up caught in a plastic net. He could already feel the plastic's insulating powers sucking his powers dry. He tried to claw his way out, but he could feel his energy abandoning him.

"Let me go!" he yelled, though his voice sounded weaker than normal do to his fleeting strength.

Kid Arson just laughed, "I don't think I will, birdie. You see, I've got plans for you."

"Tell me," Jason growled, trying to make his voice sound as menacing as possible, given the circumstances.

"Tell you what's going on?" the villain asked, "Alright, since you asked so nicely. You're going to be reprogrmamed."

"Reprogrammed," he asked, using the last bit of his fleeting strength to try to claw his way out of his bindings.

"Reprogrammed," Kid Arson said, "it means that Gaea's going to mess around in your brain. Just change your allegiance a bit. Make you loyal to her and me instead of," he put on air quotes and a fake perky voice, "the greater good of Olympus City and its people."

"You won't get away with it," Jason said, his voice sounding weak even to himself, "it won't work."

"But it's worked in the past," the villain said, in a giddy tone, "Riptide, Beauty Queen, the Human Gem. They all turned during reprogramming."

"Then why do you need me," Jason attempted, though he thought he already knew the answer.

"Gaea, no matter what people might say, she cares about her adopted kids," Kid Arson mused, "me included. And I wanted you. She saw no reason to refuse me that request."

The small villain bent down and ripped off Jason's mask, "Golden hair, just like I'd hoped, to match those pretty blue eyes."

He caressed Jason's blond hair, "soon you'll be mine. And together, we can watch the world burn."

* * *

**A.N: And that's all, folks. **


End file.
